Welcome to Entwined

Welcome to Entwined, a free table top role playing game (TTRPG) system. There are many table top games out there (like Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder), but Entwined features:

• a simple format that really only requires one six-sided die
• a selection of thirteen spell lists that create hundreds of different characters from which to choose
• a selection of action skills for non-magical events

Like all TTRPGs, Entwined is played in your mind. The game master acts as creator, translator, arbitrator, and referee. Players ask the GM questions or offer up actions they'd like their characters to attempt and the GM decides how those actions play out. His or her word is always law and they can make and break rules as they see fit. Occasionally, the GM will ask you to roll a die to leave the results of your actions up to chance.

To begin your game, ideally you'll need:

• one person to act as the game master
• one or more people to create and play characters
• one six-sided die (d6)
• pencils
• spell lists
• blank paper for notes

This blog acts as a free players' guide. It explains the rules you need to know in order to play the game properly.

Great for Beginners

If you're new to table top gaming, don't be intimidated. This game is streamlined specifically for beginners -- taking out much of the math and unnecessary rules that bog down other games. The blog you're reading here includes all of the player rules -- for free. You don't have to spend $50 to play the game, you don't have to memorize hundreds of spells, you don't have to look up dozens of "races", and you don't have to painstakingly min/max your profession to keep up with seasoned players. This makes Entwined great for people who want to try out a table top game without investing a lot of time and money.

No Races, No Classes

You are an adventurer. Period. While you do choose which magic you will commune with, calling yourself a Pyromancer or a Natureweaver doesn't mean you can't be a dwarf because dwarfs hate blood/spiders. Entwined offers more flexibility while leveling your character by eliminating unnecessary rules. You can have a background if you want, but that background is independent of your abilities.

Unlimited Eras and Settings

Unlike most TTRPGs that are based in very specific times and fantasy worlds created by the company that develops them, Entwined grants the game master unconditional flexibility to host his or her adventures in any time or place while sprinkling in as much or as little fantasy as they so choose. Looking to set your players into 1890s London? Fine. Magic is actually cell phones hacking technology? We do that. Teleport to Grelog VI for a meeting with the Morlocks over tariffs? Done.

One Die

Unlike other table top games that have many many different dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and a d20 at minimum), our game runs entirely on a single d6 die -- the same die you get in Monopoly, Yahtzee, and dozens of other games never mind that you can purchase one at any corner drug store.

Magical Incantations

This is not Harry Potter. In Entwined, wands (or their equivalent substitutes) are sentient. They think and feel. They throw hissy fits. In order to cast magic, you MUST speak the proper incantation (included on your spell sheet) to negotiate with the magical affinities. But watch out. An incorrect incantation can backfire causing dangerous (and usually hilarious) results.

Entwinement

Why is the game called Entwined? Because we've got an entwinement mechanic where you and an ally fire your wands simultaneously creating powerful combo spells.

Town Life

If you want to spend your life as a murder hobo callously destroying whole forbidden-temples-worth of enemies with your weapons, you can do that. However, Entwined also role plays the downtime characters have in between adventures -- living life to the fullest. Maybe you find love, earn money as a property owner, or learn the rare knowledge needed to become a heroic legend.

Brewing, Blending, and Crafting

Having great gear makes life so much easier. Characters can build weapons, wands, armor, and other tools. Characters can also whip up potions to restore health and grant bonuses. You can also blend together objects to create one new more powerful object.

Creativity... or Not

Finally, creative people will love interpreting their spell lists to eliminate obstructions and solve problems in unusual ways. But, if you're not into that kind of thing, you can focus instead on leveling your action skills to become a master of weapons, defense, stealth, or treachery.

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Hopefully, this should give you a brief understanding of what to expect from a game of Entwined. I hope you enjoy it!

Yours,


Fenwald Griswick

What is a Table Top RPG?

For those of you who have never seen or played a table top role playing game (TTRPG) before, here's a brief summary of how it works.

Rules: Action Points and Rolling

Here is why you need dice to play this game and how that works.

Character Sheets, Pips, and Progression

In every table top game, players record statistics and other information on a character sheet in order to retain all the important details. This keeps the game running smoothly. It is highly recommended that you maintain your character sheet using a pencil and write lightly as these numbers will change often as you level up.

Amity Actions: Newspaper

Entwined features two phases: amity and exploration. The newspaper is the second event in the amity phase. This is where the players find out what events are available for their characters to look into. The following is a list of rules that govern this phase event.

Exploration Action: Combat

In the game of Entwined, players can attack enemies or be attacked by enemies at any time. The results are a combination of dice luck added to the skill levels of each of the combatants. Here's how combat works.

Amity Actions: Town

One of the unique game aspects that sets Entwined apart from other types of table top role playing games is the focus on life back in town. In between major quests and events, game masters are encouraged to do town events -- where the party "lives" in town for a certain number of days.

Amity Actions: Hideout

In between adventures, players are encouraged to bring their characters back to town and then have them interact with the townsfolk to earn money and improve gameplay. The town is a place where adventurers can cool down, recuperate, and count their cash. But, a better option than paying rent to a tavern owner would be to have the characters living in a place of their own -- a house, hideout, or even start a brand new town.

Transportation

Entwined offers game masters the opportunity to add vehicles and other forms of transportation to their games if they want transit from one location to the other to be as adventurous as searching through the depths of an abandoned temple.

Gear: Weapons

When in combat, non-magical damage is dispensed using weapons. There are many types of weapons, both ranged and melee, that will allow you to dispense pain and anguish to your enemies. These weapons can be upgraded to create terrifying tools of destruction.

Gear: Wands

While traditional fighters will go with melee or ranged weapons, characters focused on utilizing magic may prefer the use of wands. Wands are, generally speaking, of the same basic shape and size -- a narrow stick-like weapon the approximate length of a human forearm -- however there is an impressive variety of materials from which they can be constructed. These materials create specific effects and give wands particular elemental affinities that dictate the specific spells that any one wand can cast.

Gear: Potions

Potions are glass vials full of magical fluid brewed by an apothecary. Because of the time it takes to brew them, most types of potion are quite rare to find in either a shop or while adventuring, but some have become so demanded that they are manufactured in large quantities and commonly available.

Character Exemplar Titles

Every player character is known as an adventurer -- a person of impressive prowess who is willing to go out on grand quests. But how does an adventurer distinguish him- or herself from the hundreds of other adventurers that live in the world?

Effects: Armor

Common armor -- like those pieces you can purchase at the start of the game -- have no magical buff slots. However, as you play the game you will find more and more interesting armor pieces that grant you buffs to your statistics and other interesting benefits. In all cases, the armor piece must be equipped in order for the buffs or debuffs that it grants to be active.

Effects: Wands

Overall, wands have only a few buffs compared to other weapons and armor, but they are very strategic in nature and offer wand wielders great offensive and defensive bonuses that can turn the tide of battle.

Effects: Weapons

Common weapons -- like those purchased at the start of the game -- have no magical buff slots. However, as you play the game you will find more and more interesting weapons that grant you buffs to your statistics and other interesting benefits whenever you successfully strike an enemy.

Elemental Affinity: Air

One of the magical affinities that are used by characters bearing wands and magical weapons is the elemental affinity called "air". The air affinity allows for the manipulation of the atmosphere around each of us, such as the production of wind, fog, mist, and force fields.

Elemental Affinity: Earth

One of the magical affinities that are used by characters bearing wands and magical weapons is the elemental affinity called "earth". The earth affinity deals damage based on vibration and particle attacks.

Elemental Affinity: Fire

One of the magical affinities that are used by characters bearing wands and magical weapons is the elemental affinity called "fire". The fire affinity allows for the production of heat, flame, and light.

Action Affinity: Demand

One of the magical affinities that are used by characters bearing wands and magical weapons is the action affinity called "demand". The demand affinity allows the wielder to manipulate objects and people.

Action Affinity: Obedience

One of the magical affinities that are used by characters bearing wands and magical weapons is the action affinity called "obedience". The obedience affinity allows the wielder to converse with the natural world and manipulate the size of an object.

Action Affinity: Revelation

One of the magical affinities that are used by characters bearing wands and magical weapons is the action affinity called "revelation". The revelation affinity makes visible that which isn't and hides that which you can see.

Action Affinity: Theft

One of the magical affinities that are used by characters bearing wands and magical weapons is the action affinity called "theft". The theft affinity benefits thieves and adventurers who are locked out of areas or looking to loot locked treasure chests.

Action Affinity: Truth

One of the magical affinities that are used by characters bearing wands and magical weapons is the action affinity called "truth". The truth affinity dictates magical defense and benefits diplomacy, investigation, and espionage.

Action Affinity: Web

One of the magical affinities that are used by characters bearing wands and magical weapons is the action affinity called "web". The web affinity allows for the production of silk, which can then be utilized the same way it is used by spiders.